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Economic and Community Development: Project SCOPE
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A new Baltimore Program, Project SCOPE (Selling City Owned Properties Efficiently) has significantly streamlined the sale of city-owned vacant houses to potential buyers by listing vacant properties with realtors and the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). In the past, buyers had to wade through the bureaucracy of the Department of Housing and Community Development or the Department of Real Estate to track down city-owned properties often encumbered by liens for back taxes or water bills. Now the city, like any home seller, pays real estate agents a commission in exchange for their expertise and inclusion in the MLS. This public-private collaboration has reduced an often year-long process to three months. Part of the city's continuing commitment to eliminate government waste, Project SCOPE is helping to move homes to willing individuals, rapidly pass increased profits from sales and property taxes to the city, and raise neighborhood property values and spirits by replacing local eyesores with rehabilitated homes.
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Economic and Community Development: Library Program Offers "Fresh Start"
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East Baton Rouge Parish library has found a new way to encourage kids to read. "FreshStart@ the Library" now allows children and teens to "read off' their fines for overdue books at special sessions. Since members can not borrow books when they have pending fines, they can schedule a reading session at the library that lets them read off their fines at a rate of $2 for each 15 minutes. Alternatively, agreeing to be an assigned listener for younger children also yields reductions in overdue charges. The library hopes that the program will give kids yet another incentive to read early and often.
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Economic and Community Development: Tracking Farm Animals
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The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, in conjunction with The U.S. Department of Agriculture, is in the first stage of a three year voluntary livestock registration program that will allow state and federal officials to address outbreaks of animal disease like mad-cow and bird flu by tracking sick animals to their farm of origin within 48 hours. Over 100 farms have registered to receive their unique identification number through the web or by phone, and the streamlined process should encourage further adoption. Future phases of the program will include cataloguing livestock at the individual level. Program officials predict that the initiative will help both farmers and consumers. Farmers can use the information to improve operations, and consumers can retain confidence that their next meal came from a disease-free environment.
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Environment and Natural Resources
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A unique financing system has given a large prison complex in Victorville, California a greener source of energy. The new system uses wind and solar energy, producing less polution than its former source of power. But it was the financing program that allowed officials to adopt the technology. The prison was able to install the system without spending a penny, relying on the expected savings, investment capital and state and local utility incentives to finance the project. The new energy-efficient equipment is expected to save the prison $420,000 a year.
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Organizational Management
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Public sector employers can now offer an alternative to traditional state-sponsored Medicare plans for their retirees. The National Employee Benefit Companies (NEBCO), a leading wholesale retiree benefit administrator, has formed a group trust that intends to "help government agencies contain and better manage the skyrocketing cost of medical benefits." The trust pools retirees with a larger population, spreading risk and moderating typically higher retiree claims. The diversion of retiree medical activities into a separate trust also stabilizes premium increases for current employees. In a time of significant baby boomer retirement, agencies face an increasing burden of efficiently linking their employees to quality medical care while keeping costs low. The NEBCO trust also helps agencies deal with legal liability and strategic planning of finances.
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Criminal Justice and Public Safety
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Utah state legislators, worried that illegal immigrants were driving on the roads without proper training, passed a law in 1999 that allowed such immigrants to obtain licenses in the interest of helping them become safer drivers. But some illegal immigrants used those licenses as forms of identification when applying for jobs. Now, the state has adopted a law that officials hope will be the solution to the problem. The state is now offering driver's cards in addition to driver's licenses. The cards certify the right to drive, but they are not an official form of identification and cannot be used to acquire jobs.
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